Sixteen: Oliver Oswin
1190 Words
Sixteen:
Oliver Oswin
Olivia checked me out of the hospital. I was beat up, and bruised, but there wasn’t anything terribly wrong with me. When I got back to our home, Piper was waiting for me in the driveway. Olivia saw this and smirked from the driver’s seat where she was sitting. I scowled at her.
“Please don’t,” I said.
“Don’t what?” Olivia asked.
“Don’t get all shippery. We’re not Edward and Jacob. You can’t pick teams. She’s got a mind of her own, and for all I know, she’s been madly in love with Ransom this whole entire time.”
“#TeamOliver,” Olivia whispers, with a cackle.
Olivia parked the car and got out. She ran towards Piper and gave her a hug. “Pipsqueak!” she smiled at her. “I can’t believe that you’re back. I thought we would never see you around here again. You should have seen Oliver’s face when he was talking about seeing you. Tragic circumstances, of course. But we’re happy to have you back in the fold.”
Piper smiled sheepishly at Olivia. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. I always felt that Olivia had dragged Piper along into things. And Piper had smiled and nodded along the way. But that was how my sister worked. She weaseled her way into in no matter what, but in the end, you were always glad that she had.
“Hi, Liv,” she said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to show up unannounced. But can I talk with Oliver? Alone?”
Olivia’s eyes widened. “Surrrrrre,” she purred, looking like the cat that caught the canary. “I was headed inside anyway. Have a moment to talk. I’m certain there’s a lot to get caught up on.” She brushed past, humming ‘So this is love’ to herself as she did. Piper squinted at her like she was a mad woman then looked back at me.
She made a face. “Is she alright? She’s acting weird.”
“That’s Olivia. You know she likes to think that she’s the real-life Alexis Rose.”
“Right,” she said. “Well, I wanted to check on you to see that you’re okay. I’m sorry. I’m really, really sorry. I shouldn’t have---”
I put hands on her shoulder. “Look, Pip, it’s alright. I’d rather have gone with you than have you go by yourself and get hurt. I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if something had happened.”
There was a softness in her expression that made my stomachache. Something bad had happened, in between my time at the hospital. This would be the moment where the other shoe dropped. She crossed her arms over her chest.
“Oliver,” she said, “when we were attacked by the girl…Tayen….”
“The winged girl has a name?”
She nodded. “Yes. I talked to her, but only briefly. Some masked guy---Bombtastic---”
I raised an eyebrow. “Bombtastic?”
“Yeah,” she said, furrowing her brows together. “You’ve heard of him?”
“You haven’t?” I stared at her, incredulous. “You’re a reporter, Piper. Bombtastic’s one of the biggest stories that’s been happening in Crescent City. He’s been saving people left and right. He’s got his own hashtag. #Bombtasticsavestheday.”
Piper frowned. “I heard there was a vigilante, but I thought it was some crazy guy running around doing a prank for the internet or something.”
“No, he’s real,” I said, “the police even have a search warrant out for his arrest. I can’t believed he saved you.”
“He saved both of us,” she said, “he’s the one that dropped you at the hospital.”
“Anyway, Bombtastic saved me and after that I don’t remember what happened. But I do know that Tayen said something that stuck.”
“What did she say?”
“She said that my mother was alive,” Piper said, “and that she had kidnapped her six months ago.”
“Six months ago?” I repeated.
Piper nodded. “I think my mother might be alive, and I think that she might be responsible for the EVOS from Tanager. And that she’s creating more. I want to find her and put a stop to her. But I need to find the truth. You’ve got the resources to find her. Ransom has forbidden me from looking into it. He’s even trying to get me to not work as Vice President so I don’t have the resources to find it. But you have the same resources that he does.”
I smiled. “I do.”
“So, I want to work with you. To find my mother, and to help find the EVOS. And I want you to pretend to be my boyfriend to do it so that he doesn’t get suspicious. Because if he finds out, he will put a stop to it.”
A fake relationship. It wasn’t exactly what I wanted, but I could work with that. I’d get to spend time with her. If I helped her find her mother, I would be engraved in her heart forever. Maybe, she would even finally put me before Ransom. Maybe, a fake relationship would turn more.
I pulled her close, and I hugged her tight. “You’re one of my best friends, Piper. Of course, I’ll help you. In any way that I can. But…. you know that Ransom will interfere, don’t you?” I pulled away to look at her.
She smiled up at me. “That’s the brilliant thing. He told me that he would give me anything I wanted if I didn’t look into this. I told him that I wanted to leave me alone when it came to my dating life.”
I smiled. “You’re devious.”
“Well, I learned it from him,” she said.
“Then, I’ll help you. I’ll always help you, no matter what.”
“Thank you. Thank you so much, Ollie. You’ve got no idea how much this means to me.” She kissed me on the forehead, and then she walked away. I watched her leave. The universe had sent her back to me, and I would do whatever I could to keep her.
- Writer
